OH there is a huge discussion here in Mexico about
" To UBER or not to UBER "
I think there is a lack of jurisdiction here because so far you are not hiring a TAXI service but you are hiring a Car service with driver ...
¿ Is that illegal ?
I do not know if yes or no but the advantage here ion Mexico is that I get a deductible invoice and from the regular TAXI service I just get a middle finger when I want to deduct the moving me cost from point A to point B
On one side Mexican government in some states have declared it legal in other states not but what they have not managed to do is to force or allow deduction of normal TAXI fares with a simple receipt or force the TAXI driver to issue valid and deductible invoices ...
¿ Why ? very simple, Mexico is a very corrupt country and as more and more Mexican can twist the Law these are votes for the reigning politic party
Just that simple ...
Another point is that UBER caras are clean and safe and TAXIs are dirty an unsafe ... At least here in Mexico
So for me very simple ... I use UBER as long as the service is 1000% better ...
I can only vouch for what I see here.
Taxi drivers:
1- They're honest.
2- Very hospitable in general but especially with tourists.
3- The large majority has a vast experience as taxi drivers.
4- They're clean and they're always "competing" to see who has the better taxi.
5- Most of them speak at least one foreign language (usually English) and for those who don't, the Taxi Driver's Association provides language courses.
6- They have good knowledge of the history of the cities they work in (tourists appreciate very much having a guide while they're being transported through the city).
7 - They must have good presentation (required by the TDA).
8- Cheaper than Uber.
9- Larger availability.
10 - Security and protection guaranteed.
Uber drivers:
1- Can rob you blindly.
2- Sometimes don't even help the tourists with the luggage.
3- Skills required: a driver's license and a car.
4- In terms of cleanness, you never know what you gonna get.
5- Language knowledge not required. After all, they're not paid to "entertain" the customers.
6- Most of them don't even know where's the place they have to take the customers to.
7- This is not their job, so you might get anything from a suit and tie to shorts and slippers, but you never know what you'll get.
8- More expensive than taxis (taxi's fares are regulated, Uber drivers charge whatever they please).
9- You never know if there's a Uber driver available in your area (taxis are everywhere).
10- They're not required to have any special insurance and most of them probably don't even have one that covers the passengers and their cargo in case of an accident.
These are only 10 comparison points between the two services (I'm sure there must be many more) but looking at just these 10, I'd say that the Portuguese people who still prefer Uber are either dumb, don't care as long as it takes them wherever they want to go or are those trend followers who think it's hip to use Uber because it has an app.
